The latest congressional leadership proposal for a "demonstrationproject" to test Medicare reform continues a tiresome pattern ofbad federal health policy that undercuts the effectiveness ofmarket-based health care reforms. Serious Medicare reform means onething: creating a premium support financing system modeled on theFederal Employees Health Benefits Program.
The House-Senate conference committee outline agreement this weekguts any serious long-term reform of the troubled Medicare programwhile proposing the single largest entitlement expansion in theprogram's history. Instead of enacting real reform at a datecertain and in time to accommodate the retirement of the massivebaby-boom generation, key congressional leaders are insteadproposing a limited "demonstration project" to test seriousMedicare reform, confined to a few areas of the country.
The Heritage reform plan, advanced in Saving the American Dream, and five other reform plans differ in detail, but their main features are similar. Congress should build on this powerful consensus and craft a comprehensive reform of the Medicare program.